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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28849872">Mistake</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/V6ilill/pseuds/V6ilill'>V6ilill</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Attempt at Humor, Gen, Infection, Mentioned Major Character Death, Not Beta Read, Rats, Unhappy Ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:14:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,351</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28849872</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/V6ilill/pseuds/V6ilill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cait and the sole survivor clear Vault 81's infestation, but at a terrible price.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cait &amp; Female Sole Survivor, Cait &amp; Sole Survivor (Fallout)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mistake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a pretty okay day to be alive, Cait thought as she stretched her stiff neck. Vel had gotten them passage into Vault 81, and a neat little cubby to sleep in. Nobody made beds quite like Vault-Tec. She glanced at the other bed - Vel had already left. Well, then she wouldn’t get to complain how Cait spent their money.</p><p>Despite the fact that the Vault had no real currency and resources were just distributed where they were needed, they still accepted caps to trade with the wasteland. Everyone accepted caps. Vel said that even on the east coast, where the great powers had minted coins and printed bills, bottle caps were still the most common money.</p><p>The food was alright, if a little bland. But Cait would take “bland” over “spicy with rads” any day. Vel was a little more . . . adventurous, if that one time she ate uncooked radroach was anything to go by.</p><p>The people next to her seemed nervous, glancing around with narrowed eyes and hunching up their shoulders.</p><p>“Somethin’ happened?” Cait turned to a woman sitting alone in the next table “Everyone’s lookin’ down today.”</p><p>“There’s- there’s some kind of disease outbreak or-or something,” she stammered “Mole rat bit a boy, I heard. The med wing is closed.”</p><p>“Is it spreadin’ among people?” the redhead wondered.</p><p>“Not to my knowledge,” the local shrugged “But the good doctor’s being cautious.”</p><p>Interesting. Cait wondered where Vel was. Probably solving the problem with her great and terrible intellect. The woman put her tray in the right rack and sauntered leisurely to the medbay. Sure, they wouldn’t let her in - not that she wanted to go there anyway, reminded her too much of Vault 95 - but she’d catch a glimpse of Vel through the window.</p><p>Not that she was actually worried about Vel getting infected or anything. She just had nothing better to do.</p><p>Exactly as expected, the medbay was closed. The glass, however, concealed exactly nothing. Cait found the bitten boy, now still as a corpse on one of the beds, the doctor and his assistant. Vel was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>“Hey,” Cait stopped a random passerby “Ye seen me friend? Vel, the other wastelander?”</p><p>“That woman with the helmet and black suit?” Cait nodded. “Yeah, she went down a secret door to find the cure for little Austin’s illness.”</p><p>So the vault had secret doors now. What else? Cameras in the shower stalls? “Where’s that door?” the adventurer asked.</p><p>“Near the reactor, I think,” the man shrugged “Now get lost, I have a hallway to disinfect.”</p><p>After a few laps around the vault, Cait found the secret door, and the large “do not enter” sign blocking it. Figuring it was no big deal, she stepped over the sign and into the abyss.</p><p>The abyss contained an inordinate amount of molerats. Good target practice, they made. But these ones were much better at ankle-biting than the ones aboveground. At about that point, Cait realized every vault was basically a giant cave. Strange how she never thought of that before.</p><p>The next section of the dilapidated secret vault had been occupied by robots, until they had all died. Well, been deactivated. Cait could never understand Vel’s insistence on shutting those things down, instead of shooting holes through them. Somebody could reactivate them!</p><p>And there was Vel herself, removing wiring from a turret.</p><p>“What the fuck,” she said “Why are you here?”</p><p>“What the fuck were you thinkin’, leavin’ me alone like that?” oops, that sounded a bit too clingy “Didn’t ya think I’d get curious and try ta follow ya?”</p><p>Vel sighed. “Come along then,” she shrugged “When I woke and heard the boy was in a coma, I had to head down here as soon as possible.”</p><p>“Could’ave at least gotten backup,” Cait muttered, slamming her shotgun into a rat that decided to ruin the moment.</p><p>“These creatures carry a deadly disease yet unknown to science,” Vel exposited, leading the way “Since you came all this way without sufficient protection, you might already be infected. But stay behind me just in case.”</p><p>“Yeah, the fuckers bit me ankles,” the woman shrugged “Smell bad too.”</p><p>“. . . I see . . .” Vel stopped and leaned on the doorway “That’s why I didn’t want you to come.”</p><p>“Well, ye sure didn’t tell me not to,” Cait noted “So, doc, am I already dead?”</p><p>“I thought I’d have enough time to find the cure on my own,” the survivor resumed her speedwalking. For some reason, Vel was almost incapable of running. “But I’m sure the pathogen affects adults less than it does children. And don’t call me doctor!”</p><p>“Oh sure, sure,” Cait rolled her eyes. Despite the extensive knowledge and practical skills Vel displayed, she always vehemently denied she was a doctor.</p><p>The rest of the vault was oddly silent, the white walls stained with dirt and rust, soil creeping over floor tiles. It all had a certain smell, just like the local mole rats. Something putrid, yet strangely sharp hung in the air.</p><p>No more rats leapt at the adventurers, their might spent, their numbers decimated. Cait thougth back to the ill, deathly-pale boy she saw through the glossy medbay window. In a few weeks’ time, could that be her?</p><p>No. No, that was just wrong. Cait was stronger than that. Vel was being hyperbole again, driven by her mushy feelings of friendship and camaraderie. Nothing would come of it. Nothing at all.</p><p>Besides, they were here to find the cure.</p><p>-</p><p>“It seems there is only one vial intact,” Vel mumbled in a dull tone “Not only that, but the very methods to manufacture it have been lost.”</p><p>“A regrettable accident, madame,” Curie interjected, gesturing with her pincer claw “You must understand, my chassis has undergone some structural damage, and with it, the data . . .”</p><p>“We get it,” Cait cut her off “Well? What are ya waitin’ for? Let’s get on with the hero thing an’ save the kiddo.”</p><p>“Of course,” the sole survivor nodded “Wait. You were also bitten by the rats. I thought I’d have to convince you, not the other way around!”</p><p>“Some bite that was,” Cait scoffed “Ye said it yerself: I’m all grown, it won’t hurt me.”</p><p>“That was pure conjecture!” Vel threw her hands up.</p><p>“Madame, please do not jostle the vial,” Curie pleaded “Mademoiselle Cait is correct - the pathogen 87-1A was developed to affect primarily prepubescent children. While the necessary testing has not been done, it will likely affect adult subjects differently.”</p><p>“This vault is so fucked up,” Cait scowled.</p><p>“I suppose we’ll have to see how your infection develops as we go,” Vel’s voice returned to monotone “Why don’t you and Curie deliver the cure while I search for any records that might remain?”</p><p>“I shall record the process with utmost care,” Curie promised.</p><p>Cait looked Vel over, eyes lingering on her fingers. The older woman stared right back at her through the lense of her helmet. Her fingers weren’t shaking that much.</p><p>“Whatever, tin can. Don’t get lost here, boss,” Cait warned and turned away.</p><p>Vel was left alone in the dust, staring at smashed vials and corrupted records. She lethargically combed through the files, expecting to find nothing.</p><p>Expecting to find nothing could help her friend.</p><p>Vel swallowed down bile. She turned a waterlogged file in her hand, the last of the batch. Her ruined vocal cords spasmed and she let out a low, rasping wail before she could stop herself. She wouldn’t be able to find a cure for Cait in time- it would be just like before-</p><p>Vel cleared her throat and let the file drop. The dirty pages scattered in every direction. It was going to be alright. Vel had gathered even more knowledge, experimented further. Besides, this time she knew something was wrong. She wouldn’t be caught off-guard.</p><p>(she conveniently ignored that last time, she had known, and had sought a cure)</p><p>Everything was manageable. Just a mole rat disease with an ominous designation. Nothing Vel couldn’t solve.</p><p>(the records of her past failures could safely be left by the wayside)</p>
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